Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c12.s2.34

c12.s2.34

The use of metals may be traced back to the Indus people of pre-historic times. The Vedic Indians were acquainted with a large variety of metals, *viz.* gold (*chandra*, *jātarūpa*, *hiraṇya*, *suvarṇa*, *harita*), silver (*rajata*), iron (*kṛṣṇāyasa*, *śyāma*), copper (*lohitāyasa*, *loha*), lead (*sīsa*) and tin (*trapu*). Mention is also made of gold and silver ornaments as well as ordinary metalware². The *Jātakas* refer not only to numerous metals including brass and bronze, but also to the manufacture of ornaments from precious metals and that of domestic and agricultural implements from baser ones³. Kauṭilya (ii. 12) specifies the characteristics of various metallic ores including gold, silver, copper, lead, tin, iron and *vaikṛntaka* (unidentified). What is more, he refers to technical sciences dealing with veins of ore and metals, to the art of smelting metals and so forth⁴. In this connection, reference is made to the manufacture of copper, lead, tin, bronze, brass, iron and other wares. In the following chapters (ii. 13 and 14), Kauṭilya deals with the characteristic qualities of several varieties of gold and silver together with the methods of their testing and purification, as well as the technical processes of their manufacture. These striking references may be taken effectually to dispose of the strange verdict of a Greek writer who, while describing the richness of the country in gold and silver mines, observes: ‘Nevertheless the Indians, inexperienced in the art of mining and smelting, do not even know their own resources, but set about their business in too primitive a way¹.’